It is not surprising that Charles Luther Manson’s children have distanced themselves from their notorious criminal father.

The Manson Family, an infamous cult responsible for 35 murders, including that of actress Sharon Tate, is a well-known name.

However, few people know about Charles Manson’s biological children, including Charles Manson Jr., Charles Luther Manson, and Valentine Michael Manson, who moved away from their father’s dark legacy.

Charles Manson’s sect may be called a family, but as a father he was anything but praiseworthy. Unsurprisingly, his biological children wanted to avoid his gruesome reputation.

Unfortunately, Charles Jr. passed away. in 1993, succumbing to his inner demons and committing suicide.

Early life

Charles Manson Jr. was born to Manson and his first wife, Rosalie Jean Willis, when she was only 15.

Manson was 20 at the time of their wedding and the young couple moved to Los Angeles while Willis was still pregnant. However, Manson’s criminal past caught up with him and he was arrested for driving a stolen vehicle from Ohio to California.

Despite their father’s disgrace, Manson’s children led relatively mundane lives. Charles Jr. changed his name to Jay White after his parents’ divorce and struggled with alcoholism throughout his adult life.

Meanwhile, Manson’s other sons kept a low profile and did not discuss their relationship with their father.

The story of the Manson family has captivated the public for decades, but the stories of the Manson children remain shrouded in mystery.

Despite the disgrace of their surname, they were able to make a life for themselves away from their father’s horrific legacy.

Manson’s marriage

While Manson was in prison, his wife, Willis, gave birth to their son, Charles Jr. However, the couple’s marriage was short-lived and they divorced in 1958.

Charles Jr. eventually changed his name to Jay White and had a son named Jason Freeman. However, he consciously tried to stay out of his son’s life to prevent his father’s infamous legacy from affecting his childhood.

After his release from prison, Manson married Leona Rae “Candy” Stevens in 1959. Their marriage was short-lived, however, and Stevens filed for divorce in 1963.

During their marriage, Stevens claimed to have given birth to Manson’s son, Charles Luther Manson. However, little is known about Charles Luther, who has since changed his name and retired from the public eye.

Mary Brunner was one of the first members of the Manson Family, the cult led by notorious criminal Charles Manson.

After Manson’s release from Terminal Island prison in 1967, he moved into Brunner’s apartment, and the two began a nomadic lifestyle, recruiting young women to Manson’s twisted ideology.

Mary Brunner’s son, Valentine Michael

Brunner gave birth to a son named Valentine Michael on April 15, 1968, but was also nicknamed “Pooh Bear” by the Manson family.

Brunner’s involvement in credit card fraud led to her imprisonment after a police brawl in 1971, and custody of Valentine was given to Brunner’s parents, who named him Michael Brunner.

He grew up in his mother’s hometown of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and felt no connection to his biological father.

Despite his unusual upbringing, Michael Brunner has chosen to live the everyday life and does not want to be treated differently because of his biological father.

He believes people often judge him unfairly based on his family history, but he doesn’t see it as a defining aspect of his life. He even refers to his mother, Mary Brunner, as “my child’s grandmother.”

In a 2019 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Brunner revealed that he worked in production and lived with his partner on a large estate in the Midwest.

He has left behind his tumultuous past and is focused on building a stable and happy life for himself and his family.

All about Matthew Roberts

Matthew Roberts, a musician from Los Angeles, visited his birth parents in 1998 and found his birth mother in Wisconsin.

She told him she had met Manson at an orgy in San Francisco in 1967 and thought he had gotten her pregnant.

Thinking he had finally discovered his birth father, Roberts wrote to Manson, receiving a letter from “Prisoner B33920” confirming that he remembered the orgy and Roberts’ birth mother.

However, a DNA test organized by CNN in 2012 concluded that Roberts and Manson’s grandchild had no common biological ancestry.

This news devastated Roberts, who had been searching for answers for years. In an interview with CNN, he expressed disappointment, saying that he had no chance of knowing his birth father now that his only lead was false.

In a 2017 interview with Radar Online, Roberts questioned the accuracy of the DNA test, suggesting that it only proved that he was not related to Manson’s grandchild and not necessarily that he was not associated with Manson himself.

Despite the DNA test results, Roberts still longed to meet Manson in person. He explained that everyone has a unique and special love for their biological parents, even if they are different, deranged or monstrous.

The idea of ​​finally seeing his biological father was big for Roberts, as he had never known what it was like to see his biological parents.

According to well-researched sources, such as journalist Karina Longworth’s 12-episode series on her podcast You Must Remember This, Charles Manson targeted vulnerable youth in the late 1960s, especially young girls, by manipulating them with drugs, long speeches and filthy living conditions.

He forced his followers to commit increasingly violent crimes, culminating in nine murders in the summer of 1969. Nearly fifty years later, the public was reacquainted with a semi-fictionalized version of the Manson family through the film Once Upon a Time. ..in Hollywood from 2019. which received ten Academy Award nominations at the 2020 Oscars.

In the sensational 1989 documentary Charles Manson Superstar, which features a lengthy interview with Manson of San Quentin, the convicted murderer claimed, “Every time I get out, I get a wife and a kid, and she runs away…20 , 30 years later, fat and acting like his mother.”

This may refer to Manson’s previous relationships with his two ex-wives, who divorced him while incarcerated. However, there is no evidence that Manson ever met any of his children.